


Runaways

by Lucifers_Trash_Stash



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Abusive Parents, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Child Abuse, Daryl Dixon and Merle Dixon are Young, Implied/Referenced Prostitution, One Shot, Protective Merle Dixon, Sad Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-06
Updated: 2018-12-06
Packaged: 2019-09-13 01:41:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16883205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lucifers_Trash_Stash/pseuds/Lucifers_Trash_Stash
Summary: After an argument with their father over Daryl's being missing in the woods without Merle being told, Merle takes Daryl away with him to get away from their abusive father.





	Runaways

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this fic a long while ago because I wanted to explore Merle and Daryl's lives when they were younger. Merle is an adult in this fic while Daryl is a younger kid, taking into consideration around a ten year age gap between the two, give or take. I hope you enjoy the angst and the feels <3

* * *

 

Without a word, Daryl Dixon shuffled through the rickety door of the trailer he lived in. It had been nine days since getting lost in the woods, and all he’d had were some berries he’d scrounged up. His hands, as well as a few other places, were uncomfortably itchy, as he’d accidentally used poison ivy leaves as toilet paper. He was starved, and the only thing on his mind was reaching the kitchen and walking past his father, who’d no doubt reprimand him for being gone for so long.

But that wasn’t what happened. Daryl’s father sat in his easy chair as he watched a wrestling match on TV. He barely glanced at Daryl when he came in. His father was more interested in the beer in his hand than his own missing son. It was better than being yelled at, Daryl supposed, and he walked into the kitchen to fix something to eat.

Without bothering to clean his hands of the muck caked on his palms, he grabbed the container of bologna and slapped a few pieces between slices of plain white bread. He was too hungry to add anything else. He just stood there in the kitchen, head down and swallowing his sandwich in big gulps like someone would take it away from him if he didn’t eat it fast enough.

As he turned to grab himself a glass of water, the screen door in the living room slammed open and Daryl flinched at the sound. The volume of the TV was turned down and Daryl heard his father chuckle to himself.

“Things didn’t work out with that slut, huh?” his father asked. “I’ll never get ya to fucking leave at this rate.”

“Fuck off old man,” the familiar raspy voice of Daryl’s older brother Merle carried into the kitchen. “I’m in between jobs right now and I need a place to crash.”

“Right, of course ya are. My good for nothin’ son can’t keep a fucking job to save his life.” A brief silence followed. “Why the fuck don’t you go over to Judy’s? She’ll let ya stay for cheap.”

“I don’t need to be sloppy seconds for that whore,” Merle grunted. “Especially if my limp dick daddy already put it to her first.”

“Didn’t know the princess was so goddamn picky,” his father sneered.

Daryl heard the heavy footfalls of boots as Merle walked into the kitchen. Merle was a lean young man in his twenties at the prime of his life. Life hadn’t been kind to him, especially with his numerous juvie records, but his posture still radiated a youthful cockiness that Daryl had never seen falter. Merle gave his younger brother one look and instantly knew something was wrong.

He walked over to the younger boy and gripped his forearms as he looked at the rash. Merle leaned down so that he could look his brother in the eye. “The fuck did ya do to yerself?”

Daryl looked down at his feet, avoiding his brother’s gaze. “Got lost out by the woods near the ravine. Nine days.”

Merle’s eyes widened as he looked at his brother head to toe. He shook his brother’s arms again and asked, “This anywhere else?”

Daryl nodded and looked off to the side to hide his shame. Merle released his brother and stormed into the living room. Daryl stared at the floor as he heard the slam of Merle’s boot into the backside of their father’s chair.

“Why didn’t ya fucking call me?! My baby brother was missing and ya didn’t tell me!?” Merle shouted over the TV before it was turned down again.

“Missing? Ya got yer eyes open, boy? Daryl’s in the kitchen.”

“He told me he was gone for nine days! Ya telling me that ya didn’t notice him for nine fucking days!?”

“He’s here now, ain’t he? Don’t matter where he’s been if he’s back now.“

Merle snorted. "Ya said the exact same shit when Mama came back to yer sorry ass after leavin’ ya for months and taking me with her. Do ya even remember that?”

“It’s cause I knew that bitch would come around again. She’s lucky I took her ass back, that woman wasn’t good enough for no one.”

“Don’t you talk about her that way!” Merle shouted. “She’s dead cause you drove her to drink! I’m surprised she lasted as long as she did with the way you treated her-”

“And who was the one who didn’t put the cigarette out when she fell asleep!?” his father yelled as Daryl heard him get up from the chair.

“I wasn’t even a teenager! Daryl could barely fucking walk! Ya were the only adult around and ya were too busy fucking some whore instead of taking care of yer kids!”

A loud thwack sounded through the trailer. Daryl knew that sound, though he’d never been subjected to it himself. He saw the scars that his brother hid underneath his clothes. Merle would pretend they didn’t exist so that Daryl wouldn’t have to worry. But he did.

Their father’s voice dropped to a low hiss. “Ya watch yer tongue, boy. Yer lucky I let that bitch keep the both of ya. If it was up to me ya would’ve been better off aborted. That way I wouldn’t have to waste the energy to smack the sense into ya when ya act out.”

There were a lot of words that Merle and his father said that Daryl didn’t understand. When he repeated them in school he was taken to the side by his teachers and told they weren’t nice words. Abortion was a foreign concept to him, though he assumed it was just another bad word.

Daryl shifted nervously as the silence lingered in the air, its oppressive nature almost suffocating him as he held his breath in wait. He heard the boots again as Merle appeared in the door, a fresh gash on his lower lip. Without a word, he walked over and hooked his arm around Daryl’s skinny shoulders and guided him towards the living room. Daryl avoided the gaze of their father as they walked past him. Merle leaned down, picking up the duffel bag that sat next to the entryway and pushed through the front door.

Their father stood on the porch as Merle brought Daryl over to his rusty pickup truck. He tossed the duffel bag into the back and ushered Daryl into the passenger’s seat.

As Merle walked in front of his truck to get over to the driver’s seat, his father called out to him, “The fuck ya think yer going, boy?”

“Leaving yer life like the fucking abortion I am,” Merle said as he flipped the bird and climbed in. The truck squealed as Merle peeled out and floored it.

The two drove in silence for awhile, every so often jumping a bit from the bumps in the dirt road that led out of the trailer park. Daryl grunted as he slammed back onto the seat in an uncomfortable position, the pain from his rash still ever present. Merle cursed under his breath and slowed the truck.

“Sorry little bro, forgot ya weren’t doing so hot,” Merle said, his foot fluttering the brakes until he went the speed limit. “Yer one tough little shit, ain’t ya? Nine fucking days, damn. Yer a fucking pro-”

“What’s an abortion?” Daryl asked.

Merle’s mouth hung open slightly as he drove on, before giving his brother a quick pat on the knee and flashing him a wide grin. “Don’t ya worry about that, little bro. Nothing ya need to think about.”

Daryl looked out the window as they drove on. Merle never told him anything. He was almost a teenager, not some kid who wouldn’t know any better. He admired his big brother and wanted to be seen as someone Merle could tell things to. Merle bottled everything up, and Daryl just wanted to be seen as someone he could rely on even with the large age gap.

“Where we going?” Daryl asked.

“Hospital.”

“Thought ya said hospitals were for rich bastards who wouldn’t give us the time of day?” Daryl said, repeating verbatim what his Merle told him when their dad left a long cut down the elder brother’s back.

Merle chuckled and looked at his brother. “Yeah, but this is different. Cream ain’t gonna solve all the mess you got going down below. You’ll thank me once ya can take a shit without ripping yer hair out from the pain.”

Daryl smiled and leaned his head against the glass, resting his eyes as he listened to the faint sound of rock music coming out of the stereo.

* * *

Daryl still felt a burn of embarrassment on his face after the nurse was finished up with him, but he was feeling much better than he had been. The nurse was a sweet young woman who assured him he’d be alright as long as he paid better attention next time he played in the woods. Her attention was now on Merle as she was focused on his cut lip.

“Oh sweetheart, ya don’t need to worry about me,” Merle said, smirking as he leaned back in the chair he was sitting on in the small room.

The nurse blushed slightly as she turned and grabbed the antiseptic and some cotton pads. “Oh hush up, you might as well get it taken care of while you’re here. What did you do?”

Merle gave her a sly smile as he tilted his up to give her more room to work. “Just a little disagreement is all. Ya should see the other guy, I got off pretty good,” he said. Daryl’s eyes fell to the floor, knowing full well what actually happened.

“Oh poor baby,” the nurse cooed as she applied the antiseptic to his lip. Daryl watched how his brother didn’t flinch from the pain and wondered if he’d be that tough when he got to be Merle’s age.

The nurse handed Merle a small bag of ice cubes wrapped in a paper towel once she was finished. “Now that’ll help the swelling. You stay out of fights now, you hear? Wouldn’t want to let that handsome face get roughed up any more.”

Merle thanked her and gave her a quick wink before gesturing for his brother to follow him. The nurse smiled and wished the boys a good day as they made their way back to the waiting room.

As Merle made his way up to the receptionist, Daryl waited nervously for his older brother to say the words he dreaded hearing. That they were poor, had no money, and needed a payment plan. Daryl didn’t want to burden his brother with the bill, but he knew Merle wouldn’t listen to him. Daryl stared at his shoes as Merle dug out his wallet and put a card on the counter. “Our daddy’s taking care of the bill today, ma'am,” he said.

Daryl looked up at his brother with wide eyes. Merle gave his brother a quick wink as they finished up there, and the receptionist informed them that the pharmacy would have Daryl’s ointment ready in a few hours. Merle thanked her and held the door open for his brother as they walked out.

“How’d ya get dad’s card?” Daryl asked.

Merle shook his head as he looked down at his brother. “Daddy keeps his stuff just laying around the house. He should know better with the couple of troublemakers he raised. Once yer a little older I’ll teach ya some good tricks so wherever ya are ya won’t have to go too hungry.”

Daryl squinted against the sun and gave his brother a grin. Merle was the only one who’d ever seen Daryl smile that wide in his life, as Merle was the only one who made him happy enough to do so.  

As they climbed into the truck, Merle took the ice off of his lips and opened the bag. He took an ice cube and bit into it with a crunch before offering some to his brother. Daryl looked at him curiously and asked, “Don’t ya need those for yer lip?”

“I’ll give ya a little tip baby brother,” Merle started. “Chicks dig scars and cuts and shit. That nurse in there was real fucking interested in yer big brother. They do the whole "oh poor baby” thing, but it’s like instinct that they go for the stronger dude with all the scrapes and bruises. Shows ya can defend yer lady.”

Daryl frowned slightly. “And the scars on yer back?”

Merle sighed and put another ice cube in his mouth. “Those are different. Believe me, ya don’t want the kind I got.” He turned to Daryl and gave him a solemn look. “Ya don’t got ‘em, right?”

Daryl shook his head and Merle let out a small sigh of relief as he turned back towards the steering wheel. “That’s good. He likes ya a lot more than me. Yer quiet and keep to yerself. He hates anyone that calls him out on his shit.”

Daryl mulled over this revelation as his brother put the truck into gear and drove off.

* * *

The pickup truck drove up into a driveway that was unfamiliar to Daryl. He was tired from the long day they’d had. Merle had told him that it was Daryl’s special day and that he was in charge of what they did that afternoon. Daryl had decided on things that he usually wasn’t able to indulge in, such as ice cream, movies, and a few comic books. Merle didn’t even mind taking him to get clothes that weren’t old hand me downs, so he had a few new shirts and some pants as well. Merle didn’t care as long as they were using their father’s card, which he told Daryl that he wouldn’t notice was gone until much later.

Merle opened the door for Daryl and he slid out with a yawn. It was pitch black out except for the glowing porch light in front of the small run down house. Merle’s shoulders slumped as he looked back at his brother and knocked on the door.

It wasn’t too long before a woman, looking to be around their father’s age, opened up the door. Daryl was standing behind Merle and yet he could still see the garish leopard print nightgown over her body, her long flowing red hair pulled off to one side and her makeup done up in a way that Daryl thought looked like a clown.

“Merle Dixon, look how you’ve grown!” the woman drawled as she leaned her hand against the door-frame. “You’re the spitting image of yer daddy, what with that handsome square jaw…”

“Yeah yeah, hey Judy,” Merle said, shifting on his feet. “I need a favor.”

“Anything for you baby,” she purred before she noticed Daryl standing behind Merle. “Damn it honey, I don’t get involved in this kind of shit.”

“Fuck no! This is my baby brother, Daryl. We need a place to crash for the night,” Merle explained.

“Baby, you know I have an established business here, I can’t exactly let you hang around,” she said before giving Daryl a wink. “It’s my office hours, sweetie,” she explained. Daryl still furrowed his brows in confusion as Merle continued.

“I’ll make it worth yer while,” Merle said as he reached for his wallet and handed her a bill. “That’s still the price, right?”

Judy rolled her eyes. “That’s for a few hours, darling. If you’re going to waste my entire night so I can’t get any customers, you’re going to need to do better than that.”

Merle retrieved a few more crumpled bills and handed them to her. “Better?”

“Much,” Judy said as she stepped back to let the boys inside.

Daryl took in the surroundings. It was only slightly bigger than their trailer, but it was much cleaner. The coffee table was free of clutter, except for a few cigarette containers. The floor and walls were free of stains. And most of all the couch looked comfortable. Daryl was starting to feel tired and wanted nothing more than to curl up and sleep.

“My room’s down this way, sugar,” Judy said to Merle and he shook his head.

“I’m not doing that. Think of it as giving you the night off,” Merle said.

“Well unless you want to sleep on the floor, there’s nowhere else except for my bed,” Judy said. She smiled and leaned into him. “Come on, we don’t have to do nothing, just cuddle. It’s not too often I get someone as young and handsome as you knocking on my door.”

Merle sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. “Alright, alright.” He turned to his brother and smiled at him. “Ya gonna be okay out here Daryl?”

Daryl was already making himself comfortable on the couch as he kicked his shoes off and curled up. He nodded and Merle smiled. Daryl turned over to face the couch as the two of them went into the other room. Daryl didn’t think too much about Merle staying with this woman; he trusted his brother’s decisions.

As he was lying there, he realized he was a bit cold. He couldn’t find any blankets on the side of the couch so he picked himself up and silently walked to the bedroom door. As he was working up the courage to knock, he heard hushed whispers behind the door and held his hand to his side as he listened.

“Jesus, sugar, did your daddy do that to you? Why don’t you get out of there?”

“And go where? I can’t afford to keep paying ya to stay. I’ve got no fucking job. Not to mention my slut of a girlfriend was fucking some other prick on the side so I’m left with no fucking place to go other than the old man’s.”

“The longer you stay there the easier it’ll be for him to decide to do more than hit you. You need to get a job and get back on your feet is all. Maybe sleep a few nights in your truck, but that’s not too bad.”

“Where? No one in town will hire me with my reputation, and no one outside of town will look at me twice with my juvie record. I’m just lucky I haven’t been caught since I became an adult or else it’d be worse.”

“Well shit honey, the military will let you in with a waiver. They pay pretty good.”

Merle snorted. “Me, in the military? Does this lip look like I take orders well? Not to mention that I ain’t leaving Daryl. I can’t, not with our daddy.”

“Sugar, I know you’re not going to like to hear this. You can’t keep running around with him. He needs to go to school, he needs food and a safe place to sleep. If you go to the military, you’ll make enough to come back and give him a better place to live. Your father isn’t the best man, but it’s something for the time being.”

There was a long silence. Daryl gulped down the lump in his throat and stared at his feet as he thought about what he’d heard. Merle wouldn’t leave him again, right? He only saw him every once in a while as it was, he couldn’t just go, and to the military no less. Merle had said that law enforcement were a bunch of “fascists,” a word Daryl didn’t know but sounded bad by the way his brother had spat it out like something venomous.

Not wanting to hear anything more, Daryl went back to the couch and curled back up. He tucked his head into his body as he counted the breaths he took before slowly drifting off to sleep.

* * *

Daryl tried his best to forget the conversation he’d heard last night, which was fairly easy because he was experiencing things that were typically reserved for special occasions. Judy had made them pancakes from scratch, and even let Daryl help when he asked. They were the best he’d ever tasted in his life, not that he had the opportunity to eat homemade anything very often.

They had to leave shortly after that. Judy had her day job and wouldn’t be back until late tonight. She told Merle that they were welcome to stay again if he had the money. Merle said he’d think about it before sliding into the driver’s seat next to Daryl and heading off.

Today was another day of Daryl deciding what they should do. After considering his options for a few minutes, he told Merle that he was fine with whatever he wanted to do. From a young age he learned not to expect anything extra aside from food and clothes, so he didn’t have many ideas. Merle had given him a sad smile, ruffled his hair, and took him to the city and went wherever the day took them.

By lunchtime Daryl was trying to decide what he would say to his brother. Whether he would ask about what Judy had told him, if he’d given it any more thought. By the time that Merle walked back to the table with their pizza, Daryl finally knew.

Merle had already taken a huge bite of his slice as Daryl asked, “You gonna to do it?” Merle cocked his eyebrow and chewed slowly, looking into his younger brother’s eyes for a moment before swallowing.

“I can’t hide jack from ya, huh?” Merle asked and gave his brother a small smile. Daryl didn’t laugh, so Merle sighed and continued. “I might.”

“You said the law ain’t good for nothin’,” Daryl muttered as he stared down at his pizza.

“Yeah, well, if they’d pay yer older brother to go and run around in a uniform, they got some use,” Merle said before stuffing another bite into his mouth.

“So yer just gonna leave me?” Daryl asked, barely registering above a whisper.

Merle furrowed his brow and looked sadly at his brother before swallowing. “I ain’t leavin’ ya. Nor permanently. Just until I can scrape enough together to get ya outta dad’s place.” Merle strummed his fingers on the table. He shook his head and looked back up at Daryl. “I shouldn’t have taken you away in the first place. Give ya all sorts of high hopes that we can just go rogue when I ain’t got enough to support myself, much less the both of us.”

Daryl wrung his hands underneath the table, trying to keep his mind occupied so he wouldn’t focus on the lump in his throat. Deep down Daryl knew that this wasn’t permanent, that the ride had to end soon. But he couldn’t go back to his father’s when Merle wouldn’t be with him. He’d be gone to the military for who knows how long, and while he trusted his brother he wasn’t sure how their father would treat them after running away with his wallet and going wild. And perhaps Merle knew this too, Daryl wasn’t sure.

Daryl nodded as he took his first bite, trying to savor the flavor when he knew he wouldn’t taste anything nearly as good in the distant future. Merle gave his brother a small smile, his eyes laced with a touch of guilt, though Daryl didn’t notice. The two suffered their own pain in silence, both too afraid to ruin the moment by mentioning anything more.

* * *

“We almost there yet?” Daryl asked as he ducked under another mess of low hanging branches. Merle was just slightly ahead of him, pushing the bramble bushes to the side and hoisting the backpack full of what he had bought for Daryl over the past two days higher on his shoulder.

Merle looked into the clearing and smiled. “Yeah yeah, don’t get yer knickers in a twist. We’re here.”

Daryl stepped out from behind his brother and stared at what sat in front of them. It was a small shack-like building, much like a clubhouse that some of the neighborhood kids’ parents made for them. Though this one looked a little more homemade, like someone his age had built it. Daryl looked up at Merle, who seemed to swell with pride looking at the clubhouse.

“Been a long time since I’ve seen this thing,” Merle said as he stepped closer. “Surprised the damn thing still holds up. Just shows ya how talented yer big brother is.”

Merle held the door open for Daryl as he ducked inside, the doorway just a head too short for him. The inside wasn’t incredibly fancy, though Daryl was curious to know how Merle managed to lug in a decent sized easy chair. There was also a small coffee table, and a few plastic storage boxes stacked in the corner with miscellaneous stuff. Merle tossed the backpack next to the boxes and sat down on the table.

“Built this place so I had somewhere quiet to get away from the old man when I was yer age,” Merle said as he dragged one of the boxes to his feet and opened it up. “Plus he ain’t so keen on letting his sons have fun, so I kept all the good stuff here so he wouldn’t toss it.”

Daryl flopped down in the chair just as Merle let out a low whistle at what he found in the box. He gave Daryl a wide grin as he lifted an issue of Playboy out and waved it back and forth. Daryl blushed slightly and shrugged his shoulders, making Merle laugh.

“Yeah, act like that. You’ll be thanking yer big brother in a few years for these puppies,” Merle said as he flipped quickly through the issue and set it back in the box with the rest. He moved to stand up and let himself out, with Daryl following close behind.

Merle sighed, looking back at Daryl before asking him, “So, ya think it’ll work out for ya?”

Without warning, Daryl took Merle by surprise and gave him a tight hug, nearly knocking the wind out of him in the process. Merle threw his head back and cackled, giving Daryl a solid clap on the back.

“Alright, alright, I get it. I am pretty great after all,” Merle said, ruffling his brother’s hair but not yet prying himself free from Daryl’s grip. Merle knew how much Daryl needed him, so he shifted slightly as the two stood there.

He couldn’t tell if Daryl was tearing up right now, but Merle felt himself holding back the lump in his chest. Once he went off to training, he wouldn’t be able to see Daryl for a long time. The least he could do was hug his brother goodbye until he came back home.

**Author's Note:**

> If you want to keep up with me, check out my tumblr @lucifers-trash-stash :D


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